Food article loading mechanism for a food article slicing machine

ABSTRACT

An automated sequenced food article tray loading method and apparatus for a high speed slicing machine where food articles can be loaded sequentially into designated and separated lanes of a lift tray and automatically sequentially assume a preload condition. Food article separation is maintained on the lift tray after the food articles are loaded by a plurality of support plates and one or more dividers. A food article sweep mechanism receives the food articles on the lift tray in their separated positions and transfers the food articles into the food article feed mechanism while maintaining the separated positions. The food article sweep mechanism is a substantially open structure without enclosing walls.

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Patent Application No.60/999,961 filed on Oct. 22, 2007 and U.S. Patent Application No.61/000,202 filed on Oct. 23, 2007.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Many different kinds of food articles or food products, such as foodslabs, food bellies, or food loaves are produced in a wide variety ofshapes and sizes. There are meat loaves made from various meats,including ham, pork, beef, lamb, turkey, and fish. The meat in the foodloaf may be in large pieces or may be thoroughly comminuted. These meatloaves come in different shapes (round, square, rectangular, oval, etc.)and in different lengths up to six feet (183 cm) or even longer. Thecross-sectional sizes of the loaves are quite different; the maximumtransverse dimension may be as small as 1.5 inches (4 cm) or as large asten inches (25.4 cm). Loaves of cheese or other foods come in the samegreat ranges as to composition, shape, length, and transverse size.

Typically the food loaves are sliced, the slices are grouped inaccordance with a particular weight requirement, and the groups ofslices are packaged and sold at retail. The number of slices in a groupmay vary, depending on the size and consistency of the food article andthe desire of the producer, the wholesaler, or the retailer. For someproducts, neatly aligned stacked slice groups are preferred. For others,the slices are shingled or folded so that a purchaser can see a part ofevery slice through a transparent package.

Food article scan be sliced on high speed slicing machines such asdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,237 or 5,974,925 or as commerciallyavailable as the FX180® slicer available from Formax, Inc. of Mokena,Ill., USA.

The FX180® machine can be configured as an automatically loaded,continuous feed machine, or an automatically loaded, back-clamp orgripper type machine.

For an automatically loaded, continuous feed machine, side-by-side upperand lower conveyor pairs drive food articles into the cutting plane. Agate is located in front of the conveyors. The initial food articles areloaded with leading ends abutting the gate. The gate is lowered and thefood articles proceed into the conveyors. When the initial food articlesare sliced to the extent that the trailing ends of the food articlesclear the gate, the gate is raised and new food articles are loaded inthe feed paths, held back by the gate. Shortly thereafter the gate islowered and new food articles slide down to where lead ends of the newfood articles abut trailing ends of the initial food articles beingsliced. The new food articles are driven into the cutting plane trailingthe initial food articles. Food articles are sequentially andcontinuously loaded in this manner, lead end-to-trailing end, inabutting contact with the preceding food articles.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,237 and European patent EP 0 713 753 describe aback-clamp or gripper type slicing machine. According to this type ofslicing machine, two food articles are loaded onto a lift tray and thelift tray is raised to a ready-to-sweep position. Two loaf grippers areretracted after the previous food articles are sliced. During retractionof the loaf grippers, loaf-to-slicing blade gate doors are closed andends of the previous food articles are dropped through a loaf end door.After the grippers have reached the retracted position or “homeposition” remote from the slicing blade, a loaf sweep mechanism isactivated, moving the food articles laterally together into the slicingposition. A spacing mechanism moves down and spaces the food articlesapart. The grippers then advance after it has been determined that theloaf sweep mechanism has moved the food articles to the slicingposition. The grippers have onboard sensing mechanisms that aretriggered by contact with the food articles. After sensing and grippingthe food articles, the food articles are retracted slightly, and theloaf-to-slicing blade gate doors are opened and the food articles areadvanced to the slicing plane of the slicing blade. The loaf sweepmechanism retracts and the loaf lift tray lowers, ready for the nextreload cycle. According to this design, in practice, the reload cycle isaccomplished in about eight seconds. In a high volume slicing operation,reload cycle time can be a significant limitation to optimum productionefficiency.

In either configuration the FX180® slicing machine has achieved greatcommercial success. However, the present inventors have recognized thatit would be desirable to slice up to four food articles or more withindependent feeding and weighing capabilities, with hygienic andoperational enhancements.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention provides a mechanism and method for slicing multiple foodarticles with independency of feed rate and the ability to weigh eachproduct group from each food article respectively to achieve optimalweight control and yield of each food article.

The present invention provides a high speed slicing apparatus and aweighing and classifying conveyor combination that provides pluraladvantages in productivity, food hygiene, and operation.

The combination provides food hygiene advantages by use of unibodyconstruction with minimal penetrations, double sealed door closures,self draining angled surfaces, the use of hygienic, round, sealedadjustable legs, the use of an automatic debris or scrap removalconveyor, a hygienic configuration of a food article lift and sweepmechanism. Further, the combination provides an automated cleanupposition wherein, the elevated food article feed mechanism can becollapsed to a more convenience plane or maintenance position, theweighing and classifying conveyor is oriented at a distance from theslicing apparatus for ease of cleanup and maintenance, and the bladecover is automatically lifted to a cleanup position. The weighing andclassifying conveyor includes way conveyor belts that are separable fromtheir respective drive motors for ease of cleaning and maintenance.Additionally, all product contact conveyor belts throughout thecombination are easily removable.

The combination provides for enhanced portion control and yield. A foodarticle feed mechanism ensures accurate feeding by the use of servodriven and controlled feed belts and grippers. The slicing mechanismincludes up to four independent drives for slicing four or more foodarticles simultaneously. An enhanced food article gate swing iswithdrawn, not laterally but longitudinally toward the knife blade toease the food articles toward the slicing plane.

Operationally, food article grippers are provided which minimize thelongitudinal length of remainder ends of sliced food articles. In thisregard, food article sensors have been removed from the grippers and alaser food article end detection system is employed which allows for amore compact, smaller-bite gripper.

A mechanism is provided to retract the slicing blade from the slicingplane during the dwell between sliced groups to prevent scrapgeneration. Further, a mechanism is provided to both dynamically andmechanically brake the slicing blade to a quick stop.

Laser intrusion detectors are used to shut down systems when an unwantedintrusion by an operator is detected.

An onboard information carrier system utilizing a RFID target and aread/write head is provided on the slicing blade and the shear supportto simplify equipment set up, operation and maintenance.

An automated, sequenced food article tray loading method and apparatusis provided wherein food articles can be loaded sequentially into thelift tray into designated and separated lanes which automaticallysequentially assume a preload condition, and after the food articles areloaded, food article separation is maintained on the lift tray. A foodarticle transfer mechanism or sweep mechanism is provided which receivesthe food articles on the lift tray in their separated positions andtransfers the food articles into the food article feed mechanism whilemaintaining the separated positions.

A stack/draft completion feature is possible with the apparatus of theinvention wherein incomplete stacks/drafts can be moved from the jumpconveyor to the deceleration conveyor and new food article scrap can beoff loaded to the scrap or debris conveyor for disposal. The incompletestacks/drafts can then be reloaded to the jump conveyor for completionof the stacks/drafts.

Two involute-shaped blade sizes are compatible with the slicingapparatus wherein a quick changeover between blade types is provided.

The combination of the invention provides multiple configurations toslice, weigh and classifying 1, 2, 3, 4 or more food articles.

Numerous other advantages and features of the present invention willbecome readily apparent from the following detailed description of theinvention and the embodiments thereof, and from the accompanyingdrawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a near side elevational view of a slicing machine and aweighing and classifying conveyor combination of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of the combination of FIG. 1 with somepanels removed or made transparent illustrating some underlyingcomponents;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the combination of FIG. 1 with furtherpanels removed or made transparent and underlying components revealed;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the combination shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 4A is an elevational view of the combination of FIG. 1 in aclean-up, non-operational position;

FIG. 4B is a fragmentary, elevational, enlarged view of a portion of theslicing machine shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a far side elevational view of the combination shown in FIG.1;

FIG. 6 is a far side perspective view of the combination shown in FIG.5;

FIG. 7 is a rear view of the combination shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary near side elevational view of foodarticle lift tray and food article positioning systems;

FIG. 8A is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken generally alongline 8A-8A of FIG. 9;

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary plan view of a food article lift tray;

FIG. 10 is a rear view of the food article lift tray shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a rear view of the food article lift tray and food articletransfer apparatus;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary perspective view of the food article lift trayand food article transfer apparatus;

FIG. 12A is an enlarged elevational view of the food article transferapparatus;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of the food article transfer apparatus;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of the food article feed apparatus;

FIG. 15 is an elevational view of the food article feed apparatus shownin FIG. 14;

FIG. 15A is a sectional view taken generally along line 15A-15A;

FIG. 16 is an elevational view of the food article feed apparatus;

FIG. 17 is a plan view of a gripper taken from the food article feedapparatus of FIG. 16;

FIG. 17A is a front view of the gripper taken generally along line17A-17A of FIG. 17;

FIG. 18 is a sectional view taken generally along line 18-18 of FIG.17A;

FIG. 19 is a fragmentary perspective view of the food article feedapparatus;

FIG. 20 is an enlarged sectional view of the attachment of the gripperto the belt;

FIG. 21 is a sectional view taken generally along line 20-20 of FIG. 16;

FIG. 22 is a sectional view taken generally along line 22-22 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 23 is a sectional view taken generally along line 23-23 of FIG. 21;

FIG. 24 is a plan view taken along line 24-24 FIG. 21;

FIG. 25 is an elevational view taken generally along line 25-25 of FIG.24;

FIG. 26 is a fragmentary elevational view of a food article gatemechanism;

FIG. 27 is a near side perspective view of the food article gatemechanism and a food article end removal mechanism in a first operativeposition;

FIG. 28 is a near side perspective view of the food article gatemechanism and the food article end removal mechanism in a secondoperative position;

FIG. 29 is a far side perspective view of the food article end removalmechanism;

FIG. 30 is a top far side perspective view of the food article endremoval mechanism;

FIG. 31 is a far side elevation view of the food article gate mechanismand the food article end removal mechanism;

FIG. 32 is a sectional view taken generally along line 32-32 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 33 is a sectional view taken generally along line 33-33 of FIG. 32;

FIG. 33A is a sectional view taken generally along line 33A-33A of FIG.33;

FIG. 34 is a perspective view of a portion of a slicing blade assemblytaken from FIG. 32;

FIG. 35 is a sectional view taken generally along line 35-35 of FIG. 32;

FIG. 36 is a sectional view taken generally along line 36-36 of FIG. 32;

FIG. 37 is an enlarged fragmentary far side elevational view of thecombination of FIG. 1 showing underlying components and features;

FIG. 38 is an enlarged fragmentary near side elevational view of thecombination of FIG. 1 showing underlying components and features;

FIG. 39 is a plan view of mechanical components within the base sectionof the combination shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 40 is a bottom perspective view of the lift tray and food articlefeed apparatus;

FIG. 41 is a far side perspective view of a front portion of thecombination of FIG. 1;

FIG. 42 is a near side perspective view of a food article positioningapparatus and food article feed elevation adjusting apparatus;

FIG. 43 is a near side perspective view of a food article shear support;

FIG. 44 is a front elevational view of the shear support shown in FIG.43;

FIG. 44A is a front elevational view of a slicing blade with respect tothe shear support;

FIG. 44B is a sectional view taken generally along line 44B-44B of FIG.44A;

FIG. 44C is a sectional view of a jump conveyor drive assembly takengenerally along line 44C-44C of FIG. 35;

FIG. 45 is a front perspective view of the slicing apparatus with theweighing and classifying conveyor removed;

FIG. 46 is a near side perspective view of a front portion of theslicing apparatus with a cover removed to view inside components;

FIG. 46A is a near side elevational view of the slicing apparatusshowing underlying components;

FIG. 47 is a far side of elevational view of the slicing apparatusshowing underlying components;

FIG. 48 is a front elevational view of the slicing apparatus with theweighing and classifying conveyor removed;

FIG. 49 is a enlarged near side perspective view of the slicingapparatus;

FIG. 50 is an enlarged near side perspective view of the slicingapparatus and weighing and classifying conveyor;

FIG. 51 a is a diagrammatic plan view of a onboard information systemaccording to one aspect of the invention;

FIG. 52 is a diagrammatic sectional view of the onboard informationsystem taken generally along line 52-52 of FIG. 51;

FIG. 53 is a far side perspective view of a laser guard system accordingto another aspect of the invention;

FIG. 54 is a near side perspective view of the laser guard system;

FIG. 55 is a near side elevation view of the weighing and classifyingconveyor of FIG. 1 showing underlying components;

FIG. 56 is a perspective view of a portion of a weighing conveyor withthe conveyor belt and rollers removed;

FIG. 57 is a bottom view of a weighing conveyor belt with frame androllers removed from the weighing conveyor shown in FIG. 56;

FIG. 58 is an enlarged elevational view of a portion of the weighing andclassifying conveyor;

FIG. 59 is a near side elevation view of the weighing and classifyingconveyor shown in a clean-up position;

FIG. 60 is a far side elevational view of the weighing and classifyingconveyor;

FIG. 60A is an end view of the weighing and classifying conveyor showingunderlying components;

FIG. 60B is a plan view of the weighing and classifying conveyor;

FIG. 61 is a schematic representation of the combination of FIG. 1showing a four food article set up;

FIG. 62 is a schematic representation of the combination of FIG. 1showing a three food article set up;

FIG. 63 is a schematic representation of the combination of FIG. 1showing a two food article set up;

FIG. 64 is a progressive schematic diagram showing the loading of fourfood articles onto a food article lift tray;

FIG. 65 is a schematic plan view showing the weighing and classifyingconveyor configured for four lanes of sliced product;

FIG. 66 is a schematic plan view showing the weighing and classifyingconveyor configured for two lanes of sliced product;

FIG. 67 is a schematic plan view showing the weighing and classifyingconveyor configured for one lane of sliced product;

FIG. 68 is a schematic plan view showing the weighing and classifyingconveyor configured for three lanes of sliced product;

FIG. 69 is a schematic rear end view of the food article lift trayshowing the tray configured to hold four square cross section foodarticles;

FIG. 70 is a schematic rear end view of the food article lift trayshowing the tray configured to hold four circular cross section foodarticles;

FIG. 71 is a schematic rear end view of the food article lift trayshowing the tray configured to hold four large D-shaped food articles;

FIG. 72 is a schematic and view of the food article lift tray showingthe tray configured to hold for large rectangular cross section foodarticles;

FIG. 73 is a schematic and view of the food article lift tray showingthe tray configured to hold two large prone rectangular food articles;

FIG. 74 is a schematic elevational view of a round knife blade to beused with the apparatus of the present invention;

FIG. 75 is a schematic elevational view of an involute-shaped knifeblade for slicing large food articles to be used with the apparatus ofthe present invention;

FIG. 76 is a schematic elevational view of an involute-shaped knifeblade for slicing small food articles to be used with the apparatus thepresent invention;

FIG. 77 is a near side elevational view of a laser guard system of thepresent invention;

FIG. 78 is a sectional view taken generally along line 78-78 of FIG. 77;

FIG. 79 is a plan view of a rear portion of the weighing classifyingconveyor;

FIG. 80 is in elevation view taken generally along line 80-80 of FIG.79;

FIG. 81 is a plan view of the rear portion of the weighing andclassifying conveyor of FIG. 79 with deceleration conveyor belts removedfor clarity; and

FIG. 82 is an exploded view of a portion of the deceleration conveyortaken from FIG. 81.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many differentforms, there are shown in the drawings, and will be described herein indetail, specific embodiments thereof with the understanding that thepresent disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of theprinciples of the invention and is not intended to limit the inventionto the specific embodiments illustrated.

U.S. Patent Application No. 60/999,961 filed on Oct. 22, 2007 and U.S.Patent Application No. 61/000,202 filed on Oct. 23, 2007 are both hereinincorporated by reference.

FIGS. 1-3 illustrate a high speed slicing apparatus 100 and a weighingand classifying conveyor or output conveyor 102 according to a preferredembodiment of the invention. The slicing apparatus 100 includes a basesection 104, a collapsible frame 105, an automatic food article loadingapparatus 108 that receives food articles 110 to-be-sliced, a foodarticle feed apparatus 120, a food article feed elevation adjustingapparatus 121, a food article end removal apparatus 122 (FIG. 27), alaser safety guard system 123, a slicing head apparatus 124, and a slicereceiving apparatus 130. The slicing apparatus also includes a computerdisplay touch screen 131 that is pivotally mounted on and supported by asupport 132.

The apparatus 100 can also include an onboard information carrier system135 (FIGS. 51, 52) that allows installed parts to be tagged with aninformation read and write data carrier that can communicate control ormaintenance or other information to machine control.

Base Section

The base section 104 includes a compartment 136 having side walls 138 a,138 b, a bottom wall 140, and an inclined top wall 142. The apparatus100 is supported on four adjustable feet 144. The compartment 136 has atapered side profile from back to front wherein the top wall 142 slantsdown from back to front. The slanted orientation of the top wall 142ensures water drainage off the top of the compartment 136.

The adjustable feet 144 are shown in FIG. 4B. The feet include acylinder 144 a that is bolted to the bottom wall 140. The cylinder 144 aincludes an internal threaded bore 144 b that receives a threadedportion 144 f of a shaft 144 c that is mounted on a foot base 144 d. Theshaft 144 c includes a smooth portion 144 g of below the threadedportion 144 f. The smooth portion 144 g is sealed to the cylinder 144 aby an o-ring 144 h carried inside the cylinder 144 a. This designprevents threads from being exposed which can collect particles andspray water from clean up.

The compartment 136 includes near side doors 152,154, far side doors156, 158 (FIG. 5), and a rear door 162 that permit access into thecompartment or to modules normally within the compartment 136. Thecompartment 136 typically affords an enclosure for a computer, motorcontrol equipment, a low voltage supply, and a high voltage supply andother mechanisms as described below. The compartment may also include apneumatic supply or a hydraulic supply, or both (not shown).

Base section 104 also includes a debris or scrap conveyor 170 that canbe operated to slowly circulate at all times to remove food pieces orother debris that would otherwise collect on top of the top wall 142,and delivers the debris to a collector bucket 173 located below anoutput end 170 a of the conveyor 170.

The debris conveyor 170 is shown in FIGS. 45 and 47-50. The debrisconveyor includes a belt 163 that circulates around a rear idle roller164 a, a front tensioning roller 164 b and a drum motor roller 164 c.The belt circulates against a front idle roller 164 d. The rollers 164 band 164 c are supported by side plates 165 a, 165 b. The side plates 165a, 165 b are fixed to support shafts 166 a, 166 b which are attached incantilever fashion to a far side of the machine by a triangular baseplate 167 that is fastened to end nuts 2066 a, 2066 b of the tubularshafts 2067 a, 2067 b described below. The cantilever mounting allowsfor the belt to be removed off the rollers at a near side of the machinefor cleaning.

Each of the rollers 164 a, 164 b, 164 d are rotatably carried on a pairof bearings 168 that have a block shaped outer contour 168 a with arecessed square block shaped region 168 b. The square block shapedregion 168 b of each bearing 168 is configured to tightly fit within arespective support bracket 169 a, 169 b, 169 c to removably support therespective roller. The outer contour 168 a captures the respectivesupport bracket 169 a, 169 b, 169 c by sandwiching both sides of therespective bracket 169 a, 169 b, 169 c. The support brackets 169 a areJ-shaped hangers located on the far side and near side of the machine.The support brackets 169 b, 169 b are U-shaped brackets mounted to theside plate 165 a at the far side of the machine and to the front of thecompartment 136 at a near side of the machine. The support brackets 169c, 169 c are formed as part of the side plates 165 a, 165 b and are openupward.

A tensioning shaft 171 extends across the conveyor 170 below the roller164 b. The shaft 171 is connected to cams 171 a, 171 b at positionsadjacent to and outside of the side plates 165 a, 165 b. At a near sideof the machine a handle 171 h is fixed to the shaft 171. The cams 171 a,171 b ride against bottoms 168 c of the rectangular block shapedcontours 168 a of the bearings 168. Each cam 171 a, 171 b has asubstantially flat portion 171 c on its cam surface that underlies thebottoms 168 c to lock the roller 164 b in an elevated position totension the belt 173.

To tension the belt 163, the handle 171 h is turned from the pointingdown position shown in FIG. 46A to the pointing up position shown inFIG. 46A, i.e., turned clockwise.

Collapsible Frame and Elevated Housings

The base section 104 supports the collapsible frame 105 as shown inFIGS. 1-4A. The collapsible frame 105 includes a foldable supportmechanism 174 that supports a food article feed mechanism frame 190.

The foldable support mechanism 174 includes a servomotor 175 that drivesa gear reducer 176 having a drive shaft 178 that extends out of the gearreducer 176 at opposite ends. The drive shaft 178 is fixed to parallellevers 180 a, 180 b which swing out with a turning of the drive shaft178. The levers 180 a, 180 b are pivotally connected to parallel supportcolumns 182 a, 182 b via an axle joint 184. The columns 182 a, 182 b arepivotally connected to the frame 190 which pivotally supports the foodarticle feed apparatus 120 on an axle 192.

The food article feed mechanism frame 190 also supports a sweepmechanism housing 194, a feed conveyor drive housing 196, and a enddisposal housing 198, all on the far side of the apparatus, shown inFIGS. 5 and 6. The frame also supports the laser safety guard system123.

For cleaning and maintenance purposes, the collapsible frame 105 iscollapsed down by actuating the servomotor 175 and gear reducer 176 torotate the levers 180 a, 180 b, which draws down the columns 182 a, 182b as the frame 190 rotates on the axle 192. The frame 190, and allequipment supported thereby, is lowered for more convenient maintenanceand cleaning as illustrated in FIG. 4A. In some cases this eliminatesthe need for ladders or platforms when servicing the slicing apparatus100.

Automatic Food Article Loading Apparatus

As illustrated in FIG. 7-9, the automatic food article loading apparatus108 includes a lift tray assembly 220, a lift tray positioning apparatus228 and a food article lateral transfer apparatus 236. The lift trayassembly 220 receives food articles to-be-sliced. The tray positioningapparatus 228 pivots the tray assembly 220 to be laterally adjacent to,and parallel with, the food article feed apparatus 120. The food articlelateral transfer apparatus 236 moves the food articles from the lifttray assembly 220 onto the food article feed apparatus 120.

Lift Tray Positioning Apparatus

FIGS. 7, 9 and 10 illustrate the food article lift tray assembly 220includes a frame 290 that supports four movable food article supportplates 302, 304, 306, 308.

As illustrated in FIG. 8, the frame 290 is connected by a rearconnection 330 and a front connection 332 to a lever 336. The lever 336is pivotally connected to a height adjustment bar 340 at a pivotconnection 342. A servomotor 350 drives a gear reducer 351 that has anoutput shaft 352 that is fixed to a crank arm 360. The crank arm 360 ispivotally connected to a lift arm 362 at a pivot connection 364. Thelift arm 362 is pivotally connected to the lever 336 at a pivotconnection 366.

When the servomotor 350 turns the crank arm 360 via the gear reducer351, the crank arm 360 is turned counterclockwise in FIG. 8 and the liftarm 362 is elevated to pivot the lever 336 about the pivot connection342. This pivots and elevated the rear end of the frame 290 and the foodarticle lift tray assembly 220.

Lift Tray Assembly

As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 10, the support plates 302, 304 areseparated by a divider 312. The support plates 304, 306 are separated bya divider 314. The support plates 306,308 are separated by a divider316. The dividers 312, 314, 316 are fixed with respect to the frame 290.The support plates 302, 304, 306, 308 are movable in a perpendiculardirection “P” to a length direction of the frame 290 (FIG. 8). When theframe 290 is horizontally oriented, direction “P” is substantiallyvertical.

Each food article support plate 302, 304, 306, 308 is supported by aselective lift mechanism 326 described in FIGS. 8, 9 and 40. FIG. 8discloses the selective lift mechanism 326 for the support plate 302with the understanding that the selective lift mechanism 326 for each ofthe food article support plates 302, 304, 306, 308 is identical.

The support plate 302 is fastened to two parallel lift bars 370, 372.Three swing levers 380, 382, 384 are pivotally connected to transverseshafts 388, 400, 402 of the frame 290, at base ends 380 a, 382 a, 384 aof the swing levers 380, 382, 384, respectively. Distal ends 380 b, 382b, 384 b of the swing levers 380, 382, 384, respectively, are pivotallyconnected to the two parallel lift bars 370, 372. A pneumatic cylinder416 is pivotally connected at a first end 416 a to a transverse strut420 of the frame 290. The cylinder 416, particularly the cylinder rod426, is pivotally connected at a second end 416 b to the distal end 382b of the swing lever 382.

Each support plate is provided with an optical sensor or other proximitysensor 302 s, 304 s, 306 s, 308 s that is signal-connected to machinecontrol. As illustrated in FIG. 8A, the sensors 302 s, 304 s, 306 s, 308s beam light and receive reflected light through a hole 302 f in therespective support plate. The proximity sensors 302 s, 304 s, 306 s, 308s are configured to sense when a food article is loaded onto therespective support plate 302, 304, 306, 308.

Each support plate is also provided with fore and aft stationary hooks302 g, 302 k that engage pins 302 p spanning between the lift bars 370,372 and which hooks are open facing forwardly, and a movable latch 302 mthat engages a pin 302 p between the lift bars 370, 372. The latch 302 mhas a hook that is open rearward and can be disengaged by a fingerpushed down through a hole 302 t in the respective support plate, andthe support plate then moved rearwardly, to the rights in FIGS. 8A and9, disengaging the hooks 302 g, 302 k to allow the support plate to bewithdrawn from the lift tray for cleaning.

In operation, when the cylinder 416 is actuated pneumatically toelongate, i.e., the rod 426 is moved to the right in FIG. 8, the swinglevers 380, 382, 384 will swing clockwise about their base ends 380 a,382 a, 384 a. The swing lever 382 will swing from direct force by thecylinder 416 and the swing levers 380, 384 will swing from the forcefrom the parallel lift bars 370, 372 on the distal ends 380 b, 384 b, ofthe swing levers 380, 384.

Referring to FIG. 10, when the cylinders are elongated, the supportplates 302, 304, 306, 308 are elevated from a lowered position indicatedas 302 a, 304 a, 306 a, 308 a to an elevated position indicated as 302b, 304 b, 306 b, 308 b. The plates initially are all elevated. Theinnermost plate 308 is lowered first to receive a food article of the.Once the proximity sensor 308 s senses a food article is present, thenext plate 306 is lowered to receive the next food article. Once a foodarticle is loaded onto the plate 306 and its presence is sensed by thesensor 306 s, the next plate 304 is lowered. Once a food article issensed on the plate 304, the plate 302 is lowered. This sequence isdemonstrated in FIG. 64. In the case where less than four food articlesare to be loaded onto the food article tray, machine control can changethe sequencing and response to signals from the switches 302 s, 304 s,306 s, 308 s.

Once the tray is loaded and lifted, the food articles 110 will be movedfrom the lowered position indicated at 110 a wherein the food articlesare guided in lateral position by the guides 312, 314, 316, to a raisedposition indicated as 110 b, wherein the support plates 302, 304, 306,308 are elevated to be flush with a top of the guides 312, 314, 316.

Food Article Lateral Transfer Apparatus

The food article lateral transfer apparatus 236 is illustrated in FIGS.10-13. The apparatus 236 includes front and rear transfer sweeps 452,454 (FIG. 12). The front and rear transfer sweeps are identicallyconfigured so only the front transfer sweep 452 will be described indetail.

The food article feed apparatus frame 190 includes an upper frame 520and a lower frame 522. The upper frame comprises two parallel rails 534,536, four tubular braces 539, 541, 542, 544 and two L-shaped frameextensions 548, 550 that are laterally spaced from the near side rail534. The frame extension 548 is fixed to ends of the tubular braces 539,541, and the frame extension 550 is fixed to ends of the tubular braces542, 544. The lower frame 522 comprises parallel straight rails 522 a,522 b and two transverse struts 523 a, 523 b which connect the twostraight rails 522 a, 522 b. At a front end of the food article feedmechanism frame 190, the rails 534, 536, 522 a, 522 b are fastened to athick support plate 551 that is bolted to the axle 192.

The front sweep 452 comprises two vertical frames 556, 558 that aresubstantially mirror image identical. Each frame 556, 558 comprisesfront journals 560 a, 560 b and rear journals 562 a, 562 b that slidelaterally on tubular braces 539, 541, respectively. A multi-lane spacer570 is arranged below the frames 526, 558. The multi-lane spacer 570comprises side plates 572, 574 and intermediate rectangular-shapedtubular spacers 576, 578, 580. The side plates 572, 574 and tubularspacers 576, 578, 580 are connected together by front and rear struts582, 584, respectively that connect raised portions of each of theplates 572, 574 and spacers 576, 578, 580. The struts 582, 584 hold theplates 572, 574 and spacers 576, 578, 580 in a vertical, spaced-apartand parallel orientation. The relative positioning of the plates 572,574 and spacers 576, 578, 580 define the desired spacing of four foodarticles to be carried on the food article feed apparatus to be slicedsimultaneously by the slicing head apparatus.

The multi-lane spacer 570 is hung from the frames 556, 558 by links 584,586, 588, 590. The front links 584, 588 are pivotally connected to therespective frames 556, 558 and pivotally connected to the side plates572, 574 of the multi-lane spacer 570. The rear links 586, 590 arepivotally connected to the side plates 572, 574 and connected to slidebearings 600, 602 that each slidably receives a square cross sectiondrive rod 606 in a fashion such that turning of the square cross sectiondrive rod 606 causes a turning of the rear links 586, 590. Turning ofthe rear links 586, 590 forcibly swings the rear links 586,590, whichswings the multi-lane spacer 570 rearward and upward. The square crosssection drive rod 606 slides through the slide bearings 600, 602 duringlateral sliding of the sweep 452. The square cross section drive rod 606has a round end that is journaled for rotation in a bearing 610 carriedby the frame extension 550.

FIG. 11 illustrates the sweep 452 in two positions. In a first positionmarked 452 a, the sweep is above four food articles 110 that arepositioned on the support plates 302, 304, 306, 308, with the supportplates in a raised position flush with the dividers 312, 314, 316. Fromthis position, the sweep 452 is moved to the right by a sweep transferdevice 630 shown in FIG. 13. The multi-lane spacer 470 is positioned tobe above the conveyor 530. The top surface of the conveyor 530 is flushwith the top surface of the support plates 302, 304, 306, 308 so asmooth sliding transfer is enabled. The sweep 452 moves laterally withthe journals 560 a, 560 b; 562 a, 562 b sliding along the tubular braces539, 541.

FIG. 13 illustrates the transfer device 630 comprises a servomotor 636that turns the operating mechanism of a screw drive 638 via a belt 642.The screw drive 638 is mounted within a tubular cover 540. A hollow rod646 is fixed on an end thereof to the frame 556 and penetrates the cover540. The rod 646 has internal threads, such as provided by a threadednut or screw follower welded to the rod, and the screw drive 638 has aninternal rod (not shown) with external threads which engage the internalthreads. Thus, turning of the rod of the screw drive 638 in apre-defined direction moves the nut along the rod and either extends orretracts the rod 646 from or into the cover 540.

To reload the conveyor 530 with four new food articles 110, themulti-lane spacer 470 must be raised so as not to interfere with thefood articles being sliced on the conveyor 530, and then moved outward(to the left in FIG. 11). To raise the multi-lane spacer 470, the squarecross section rod 606 is turned, to swing the links 586, 590. A turningmechanism 720 is shown in FIG. 13 associated with identical sweep 454,with the understanding that an identical mechanism 720 would be used forthe sweep 452. The turning mechanism 720 includes a linear actuatorservomotor 726 pivotally fastened at a base end 726 a to the frame 520and having an extendable rod 730 pivotally connected to a lever 736. Atan opposite end the lever 736 is connected to the square cross sectionrod 606. The rod 730 is connected to the lever 736 at a locationeccentric to a centerline of the square cross section rod 606. Theservomotor 726 turns an internal threaded rod or like device to extendor retract the rod 730 and thus turn the lever 736 and the square crosssection rod 606 in either direction, clockwise or counterclockwise aboutan axis of the rod 606. Thus, when the rod 730 is extended, the rod 606is turned counterclockwise (as viewed in FIG. 12) and the multi-lanespacer 470 is raised.

The servomotor 636 then turns the screw drive 638 to extend the rod 646to move the sweep 452 to the left position shown in FIG. 11 but raisedabove the lift tray 220. The linear actuator servomotor 726 thenretracts the rod 730 to reverse rotate the square cross section rod 606to lower the multi-lane spacer 470 to the position indicated as 452 a inFIG. 11. At this position, four new food articles 110 can be raised bythe supports 302, 3204, 306, 308 to take the four lane positions betweenthe side plates 570, 574 and the spacers 576, 578, 580.

As the food articles 110 are transferred from the support plates 302,304, 306, 308 a sensor 770 determines a location of the end 110 d ofeach food article 110. According to the preferred embodiment, the sensor770 comprises a laser distance sensor that uses a beam 770 a todetermine the distance between the sensor 770 and the back end 110 d ofeach food article as the food articles pass by during transfer. Thisdistance is recorded in the machine control and associated with eachfood article 110, particularly, associated with the food article 110 andthe lane to be occupied by each food article during slicing. The machinecontrol has instructions for calculating a length of each food articlebased on the distance value provided the sensor.

Food Article Feed Apparatus

The lower conveyor 530 of the food article feed apparatus 120 is shownin FIG. 14. The conveyor 530 includes four independently driven endlessconveyor belts 802, 804, 806, 808. Each belt 802, 804, 806, 808 isidentically driven so only the drive for the belt 802 will be described.A machine control “C” (FIG. 51) has instructions for ending machineslicing of all food articles on the food article feed apparatus when theshortest food article is sliced to a minimum length. The minimum lengthmay be predefined, may be a food article length below which the machinecan no longer slice a food article, or may be a food article lengthbelow which continued slicing will produce unacceptable scrap slicescause by slicing a food article end.

The belt 802 is wrapped around a toothed front drive roller or pulley812 and a back idler roller or pulley 816. The belt 802 preferably hasteeth that engage teeth of the two rollers 812, 816. Each drive roller812 includes a toothed outer diameter 812 a and a toothed, recesseddiameter 812 b. An endless drive belt 820 having a smaller width thanthe belt 802 wraps around the recessed diameter 812 b. As shown in FIG.15A, the smaller endless drive belt 820 operates within the largeroperating path of the larger endless conveyor belt 802. The drive belt820 also wraps around a drive roller 824 that is fixed to a drive shaft828. The drive shaft 828 extends transversely to the belt 802 and isjournaled for rotation within a bearing 830 mounted to a near side framemember 836.

The drive shaft 828 penetrates a far side frame member 838 and extendsto a bearing 843, coupled to a gear reducer 842 mounted to a supportframe 854. The gear reducer 842 is coupled to a servomotor 850 that ismounted to the support frame 854. The drive belt 820 circulates withinthe perimeter defined by the endless belt 802.

The servomotor 850 drives the drive shaft 828 which turns the roller 824which circulates the belt 820 which rotates the roller 812 whichcirculates the belt 802.

A shown in FIGS. 14, 15, 15A, 19 and 20 the belt 802 is supported alongits length by flat rails 860, 862 which underlie lateral edges of thebelt 802. The rails 860, 862 (as well as rails for the belts 804, 806,808) are supported by struts 870, 872,874 and 876 which connect the nearframe member 836 to the far frame member 838.

Each idler roller 816 is provided with a pneumatic belt tensionadjustment mechanism 882 that is braced from a transverse bar 886 thatis fastened between the frame members 836, 838. The pneumatic belttensioning adjustment mechanism 882 has an internal piston which isacted upon by pneumatic air pressure to exert a constant force ontension rods 882 a which exert a force on frame 883 of each idler roller816 outwardly away from the transverse bar 886 to maintain tension onthe belts.

FIG. 15-20 illustrate a gripper 894 used in cooperation with the belt802. The gripper 894 is mounted to a top run of the belt 802 and istranslated along the food article path by the belt 802. The gripper 894is clamped to a belt joint block 896 by a screw 897. The block 896comprises an upper member 899 and a lower member 900 that include teeth899 a, 900 a on members 899, 900 that engage the upper and lower teethof the belt 802 once the members 899, 900 are clamped together to splicethe free ends 802 e, 802 f of the belt 802. For clamping, fasteners 902,904 are provided which are inserted from below the member 900 throughplain holes in the member 900 and tightly threaded into threaded holes902 a, 904 a in the member 899.

The gripper 894 travels from the retracted home position shown in FIGS.16 and 19, to the advanced, forward position, shown in FIGS. 15 and 20.The lower member 900 is sized to slide between a lateral clearance 906located between rails 860, 862 (FIG. 14).

The gripper 894 is pneumatically actuated via pressurized air hoses 912,913 (FIG. 16). The air hoses 912, 913 are coupled to include freehanging supply loops 914, 915 that includes a dead weight pulley 916 toprevent inadvertent tangling of the hoses with other equipment. Tubeguides can also be provided on the back of the frame member 190 to guidethe air hoses vertically to prevent tangling of the hoses with otherequipment.

The gripper 894 includes an air cylinder 926 having a piston 930therein. Air connectors 932, 936 communicate air to/from opposite sidesof the piston to control movement of the piston in either direction. Ashown in FIG. 18, movement of a piston rod 938 connected to the piston930 moves an annular rack 942 that is engaged to four pinion gears 944of four claws 946. Movement of the annular rack 942 away from thecylinder 926 opens the claws 946, and movement of the annular rack 942toward the cylinder 926 closes claws 946.

Upper Conveyor

As illustrated in FIG. 21, at a front end of the food article feedapparatus 120, above the lower feed conveyor 530 are four upper feedconveyors 992, 994, 996, 998 having endless belts 1002, 1004, 1006,1008, respectively. The endless belts 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008 areindependently driven and are directly opposed to the lower conveyorbelts 802, 804, 806, 808, respectively. The respective belt pairs, suchas the upper belt 1002 and the lower belt 802 are circulated in oppositedirections to drive a food article clamped there between into theslicing plane.

The near side upper conveyors 992, 994 are configured in a mirror imagefashion, across a longitudinal vertical center plane of the food articlefeed apparatus 120, to the far side two conveyors 996, 998 so that onlythe near side two conveyors 992, 994 need be described.

FIG. 21 shows the conveyor 992 has a drive roller 1010 having a centralhub 1012 with a center bore 1014. The drive roller 1010 has tubular stubaxles 1016, 1018 extending from opposite ends of the central hub 1012.The tubular stub axles 1016, 1018 are journaled for rotation by bearings1020, 1022 that are fastened to carrier blocks 1023 a.

The conveyor 994 includes a drive roller 1038 having a central hub 1042with a bore 1044. The drive roller 1038 has tubular stub axles 1046 and1048 extending from opposite ends of the central hub 1042. The tubularstub axles 1046, 1040 are journaled by bearings 1050, 1052 respectivelythat are attached to carrier blocks 1023 b.

A motor housing 1054, including a baseplate 1054 b and a cover 1054 a,is mounted to an end of an upper conveyor support bar 1056. The baseplate 1054 b of each side of the machine is fastened to a linearactuator, such as a pneumatic cylinder 1055 a and 1055 b respectively.The cylinders 1055 a, 1055 b are connected together by the support bar1056. Each cylinder slides on a fixed vertical rod 1057 a, 1057 brespectively. Thus, controlled air to the cylinders 1055 a, 1055 b canbe used to uniformly raise or lower the near side housing 1054 and thefar side housing 1054 uniformly.

A spindle 1060 extends through the motor housing 1054, through a sleeve1064, through a coupling 1065, through the tubular stub axle 1016,through the central bore 1014, through the tubular stub axle 1018,through the tubular stub axle 1046, and partly into the bore 1044. Thespindle 1060 has a hexagonal cross-section base region 1070, a roundcross-section intermediate region 1072, and a hexagonal cross-sectiondistal region 1074. The hexagonal cross-section base region 1070 islocked for rotation with a surrounding sleeve 1071 to rotate therewith.

The intermediate region 1072 is sized to pass through the sleeve 1064,through the tubular stub axle 1016, through the central bore 1014, andthrough the tubular stub axle 1018 to be freely rotatable therein. Thedistal region 1074 is configured to closely fit into a hexagonal shapedcentral channel 1078 of the tubular stub axle 1046 to be rotationallyfixed with the tubular stub axle 1046 and the drive roller 1038.

The sleeve 1064 includes a hexagonal perimeter end 1064 a that engages ahexagonal opening 1065 a of the coupling 1065. The coupling 1065includes an opposite hexagonal opening 1065 a that engages a hexagonalperimeter end 1016 a of the tubular stub axle 1016. The coupling 1065couples the sleeve 1064 and the stub axle 1016 for mutual rotation suchthat the sleeve 1064 and the drive roller 1010 are locked for rotationtogether, i.e., turning of the sleeve 1064 turns the drive roller 1010.

Within the motor housing 1054 are two servomotors 1090, 1092 mounted tothe housing by fasteners. The servomotors each have a verticallyoriented output shaft 1096 that rotates about a vertical axis connectedto a worm gear 1098 that is enmesh with and drives a drive gear 1100that rotates about a horizontal axis. The drive gear 1100 drives thesleeve 1071 that drives the region 1070 of the spindle to rotate thespindle 1060. Rotation of the spindle 1060 rotates the drive roller 1038via the hexagonal cross-section distal end region 1074.

Adjacent to the servomotor 1090 is the servomotor 1092. The servomotor1092 is configured substantially identically with the servomotor 1090except the worm gear 1098, as shown in schematic form in FIGS. 22 and23, of the servomotor 1092 drives a drive gear 1100 that drives thesleeve 1064 to rotate. The sleeve 1064 rotates independently of theround cross-section region 1072 of the spindle 1060, and drives a stubaxle 1016 to rotate, which rotates the drive roller 1010.

The sleeves 1071 and 1064 are journaled for rotation by bearings 1106,1108; and 1110, 1112, respectively. The drive gears 1100, 1100 arefastened to the respective sleeve 1071, 1064 using fasteners 1116.

The housings 1054, via servomotors 1090, 1092, on both sides of theconveyors 992, 994, 996, 998 support the conveyors 992, 994, 996, 998.By using the cylinders 1055 a, 1055 b to raise and lower the housings1054, the conveyors can be raised or lowered to match a product size.

Each conveyor belt 1002, 1004, 1006, 1008 is wrapped around therespective drive roller and a front idle rollers 1134, 1135, 1136, 1137that is supported by respective side frames 1131, 1132. The frontrollers 1134, 1135, 1136, 1137 are vertically movable independently bypivoting of the conveyor about an axis of the respective drive roller.

Also, as shown in FIGS. 24 and 25, the underside of the support bar 1056carries pneumatic cylinders 1130. Each pneumatic cylinder 1130 extends apiston rod to press down on side frames 1131, 1132 of each conveyor topivots down a front end of each conveyor 992, 994, 996, 998 to lightlypress down on a top of the product below. The inclination of eachconveyor 992, 994, 996, 998 is set by upward pressure from the productand downward pressure from the pneumatic cylinders 1130.

Food Article Gate

As illustrated in FIG. 26, at a front end of the food article feedapparatus 120 a food article gate 1140 is movably positioned to providea stop for food articles that are loaded onto the conveyor 530. In orderto commence slicing of the food articles, the food article gate 1140must be displaced. FIGS. 26 and 27 show the gate 1140 in a loweredposition marked 1140 a. FIGS. 26 and 28 show the gate 1140 in a raisedposition marked 1140 b. Guide plates 1146 a, 1146 b are provided fixedlyattached to the frame 190, one on each lateral side of the gate 1140.Each guide plate includes a slot 1148 that has a vertical portion 1148 aand a lower, inclined portion 1148 b. Two rollers 1150 are connected toa front side of the gate 1140, one sliding within each slot 1148 of thetwo guide plates 1146 a, 1146 b respectively. An axle 1154 is journaledat opposite ends by a frame portion 1158 and a back wall 1160 of thesweep mechanism housing 194, using bearings. Two levers 1164 a, 1164 bare fixedly connected to the axle 1154 such as to swing when the axle1154 is rotated about its axis. Each lever 1164 a, 1164 b is pivotallyconnected to a lug 1166 a, 1166 b, respectively. The lugs 1166 a, 1166 bare welded to a backside of the gate 1140.

Within the sweep mechanism housing 194 a linear actuator such as apneumatic cylinder 1170 is pivotally connected at a base end 1170 a andpivotally connected at a rod end 1170 b to a turning lever 1172. Theturning lever 1172 is fixedly connected to the axle 1154. Thus, when thepneumatic cylinder 1170 retracts the rod end 1170 b toward the cylinder1170 the turning lever 1172 will be in the position marked 1172 b andthe gate will be in the elevated position marked 1140 b. When thepneumatic cylinder 1170 extends the rod end 1170 b away from thecylinder 1170, the turning lever 1172 will be in the position marked1172 a and the gate will be in the lowered position marked 1140 a.

Advantageously, the gate 1140 follows the track 1148 in an outward andupward motion which generally releases the food articles in a forwarddirection toward the slicing plane for slicing.

Food Article End Disposal

FIGS. 10, 11 and 27-31 illustrate the food article end removal apparatus122. The apparatus 122 comprises a prone U-shaped transport 2000. Thetransport 2000 is carried by near side bearings 2004 and far sidebearings 2006. The bearings 2004, 2006 slide along parallel rails 2008,2010 that are fixedly supported by the frame 190. The transport 2000 canbe moved from a position directly above the conveyor belts 802, 804,806, 808 as shown in FIG. 27 to a position extended outside of the farside of the slicing apparatus 100 as shown in FIG. 28. A servomotor 2016located within the sweep mechanism housing 194 drives a shaft 2020 inrotation. The shaft turns a drive pulley 2024 which turns a belt 2026which turns a driven pulley 2028 which drives a further pulley 2030 viaa common shaft 2032. A drive belts 2034 is wrapped around the furtherpulley 2030 and an idler pulley 2036, the idler pulley 2036 beingjournaled on an idler shaft 2038. A fixing block 2040 fixes a bottom runof the drive belt 2034 to the bearing 2006. Thus, when the servomotor2016 rotates the shaft 2020, the belt 2026 is circulated by the pulley2024 which circulates the drive belt 2034 via the pulley 2030 and thetransport 2000 is moved by the fixing block 2040.

FIG. 27 shows a movable paddle 2046 which can be inserted into the opencross-sectional space of the transport 2000. The paddle 2046 isconnected by an elongated handle 2048 that is pivotally connected to afront lever 2052 and to a rear lever 2056. The front and rear levers2052, 2056 are pivotally connected to the far side frame member 838 ofthe food article feed conveyor 530 at bearings 2052 a, 2056 arespectively. The rear lever 2056 extends below the bearing 2056 a andis pivotally connected to a pneumatic cylinder 2064 at a rod end 2064 a.The pneumatic cylinder 2064 is pivotally connected to the frame 190 atan opposite end 2064 b within the food article feed drive housing 196.Thus, extension of the rod end 2064 a away from the cylinder 2064 willretract the paddle 2046 as shown in FIG. 28, and retraction of the rodend 2064 a toward the cylinder 2064 will cause the paddle 2046 to extendinto the transport 2000 as shown in FIG. 27.

In operation, after the food articles have been sliced completelyleaving only ends gripped by the grippers, the grippers 894 areretracted toward the home position of the grippers but are haltedtemporarily a short distance along the food article path providing aclearance for the transport 2000. The transport 2000 is driven by theservomotor 2016 from an extended-outward position as shown in FIGS. 10and 28 to the inward position as shown in FIG. 27 with the paddle in theposition shown in FIG. 27. Any end portions that are on the transport200 will be pushed off the transport 200 by the paddle 2046 duringtravel of the transport 200 onto the conveyor 530. The grippers 894 thenwould release the ends which will fall or slide by gravity onto thetransport 2000. The grippers then continue up the food article feedpaths to the gripper home position at the top of the feed mechanism.Before new food articles are loaded onto the feed mechanism 120, thepaddle 2046 is withdrawn to the position shown in FIG. 28 and then thetransport 2000 is moved to the position shown in FIG. 28 carrying theend portions out of the food article feed mechanism and away from theconveyor 530. The process is repeated after new food articles are slicedand grippers and ends proceed up the food article feed paths. Thegrippers are again halted at a position part way up the feed paths, thepaddle is moved to the position shown in FIG. 27 and the transport 2000is moved back onto the conveyor 530. The paddle 2046 displaces the endportions off of the transport 2000 and into a bucket or other disposalmechanism, as the transport moves over the conveyor.

On a far side of the machine 100, the transport 2000 is covered by acover and chute arrangement 198 shown in operating position in FIGS. 6and 10 and pivoted about hinges 198 a to be in a raised maintenanceposition shown in FIG. 29.

Slicing Head Section

FIGS. 2, 3, 5, 6 and 32-37 illustrate components and features of theslicing head section 124. The section 124 includes a housing 2060 havinga thick top wall 2061 (FIG. 33), thick side walls 2062 a, 2062 b, anenclosing front skin 2063 a, a top skin 2063 b and a bottom wall 2064.The front skin 2063 a can include a window 2063 c closed by a cover 2063d that provides access to the motor within the housing 2060.

The side walls 2062 a, 2062 b are substantially similar. Each sidewallincludes an upper window 2065 a and a lower window 2065 b. The upperwindows are closed by covers 2065 c. The side walls 2062 a, 2062 bextend outside of and down below the top wall 142 of the compartment 136and are fastened through the compartment 136 by tubular braces 2067 a,2067 b, 2067 c traversing inside the compartment 136, welded to thesidewalls 138 a, 138 b and nuts 2066 a, 2066 b, 2066 c on each side ofthe compartment tightened onto threaded rods (not visible) that areinserted through the tubular braces 2067 a, 2067 b, 2067 c.

The thick top wall 2061 and thick side walls 2062 a, 2062 b form a rigidframe for the slicing head section 124.

A slicing head cover 2070 is provided to cover the moving slicing bladeand openings near to the slicing blade during operation.

The slicing head cover 2070 is pivotally connected to the side walls2062 a, 2062 b by a pair of articulated arms 2071 a, 2071 b that aremirror image identical across a longitudinal, vertical center plane ofthe slicing head section 124. The slicing head cover 2070 is hinged tothe top skin 2063 b by hinges 2072 a, 2072 b.

The slicing head cover 2070 can be pivoted upwardly by the arms 2071 a,2071 b moving from a folded state or closed state as shown in FIG. 2 toa substantially unfolded state or open state as shown progressively inFIG. 3, wherein the slicing head cover moves from position 2070 a to2070 b to 2070 c.

FIGS. 32 and 33 illustrate a mechanism 2072 used to move the arms 2071a, 2071 b to raise and lower the slicing head cover 2070. The mechanismcomprises a vertically oriented servomotor 2073 having an output shaft2073 a connected to a worm gear 2073 b. The worm gear 2073 b is enmeshwith a hollow follower gear 2074 a fixedly mounted on a transverse shaft2074 b. The shaft 2074 b extends across the housing 2060 and exits sidewalls 2062 a, 2062 b through bearings 2075 a, 2075 b.

The shaft 2074 b is fixed to pivot levers 2076 a, 2076 b that arerespectively pivotally connected to swing levers 2077 a, 2077 b of therespective arms 2071 a, 2071 b. Ends of the swing levers 2077 a, 2077 bare pivotally connected to the slicing head cover 2070.

When the servomotor is turned in the select direction to open theslicing head cover 2070, the worm gear 2073 b turns about its axis whichturns the shaft 2074 b about its axis. Turning of the shaft 2074 bcounterclockwise as viewed in FIGS. 2 and 3 pivots the lever arms 2076a, 2076 b clockwise which thrusts the swing arms 2077 a, 2077 b upwardto lift up the slicing head cover 2070.

The circle 2080 in FIG. 32 schematically illustrates the cutting pathwithin a cutting plane 2081 of an involute-shaped blade 2082 (shown inFIG. 33). A rotary hub 2084 has a fixed toothed annular surface 2084 athat is rotated by a toothed belt 2088 that is circulated by a drivepulley 2094 that is driven by a servomotor 2098. The rotary hub 2084 iscarried by a stationary hub 2130. The stationary hub 2130 includes aflange 2131 that is fastened to the thick top wall 2061.

A linear servo actuator 2102 has a trunion mount 2106 that is fastenedto the top wall 2061 of the housing 2060. The cylinder has an extendablerod 2110 that is connected to a vertical link 2114 that is pivotallyconnected at its opposite ends to base ends of parallel pivot bars 2116,2118. For clarity, the lower pivot bar 2118 is not shown in FIG. 33. Thepivot bars 2116, 2118 are both pivotally and slidably attached at distalends about an axis 2121 to opposite sides of a bearing hub 2120 that isarranged for sliding movement only in the axial direction “X” (FIG. 33),within the stationary hub 2130. The pivot bars 2116, 2118 are also bothpivotally attached at an intermediate location about a pivot axis 2128to a flange 2126 formed on the stationary hub 2130. The pivot axis 2128is located between the base ends and distal ends of the pivot bars 2116,2118.

As shown in FIGS. 33A and 34, since the stationary hub surrounds thebearing hub 2120, enlarged or oblong holes 2130 c are provided throughthe stationary hub 2130 to allow a pair of pins 2130 d, each having asmaller diameter than the respective oblong or enlarged hole 2130 c topass through the stationary hub 2130 on opposite sides, to be fixed tothe bearing hub 2120. The oblong or enlarged holes 2130 c allow for someclearance for the sliding movement of the bearing hub 2120 with respectto the stationary hub 2130.

Rectangular sliding lugs 2116 t, 2118 t are fit within elongatedrectangular holes 2116 v, 2118 v in the pivot bars 2116, 2118. The lugs2116 t, 2118 t and holes 2116 v, 2118 v allow sliding movement of thelugs 2116 t, 2118 t in the direction “T” during pivoting of the pivotbars 116, 2118. The lugs 2116 t, 2118 t are rotatably fastened to thepins 2130 d and cover with caps 2130 f wherein oil or grease can befilled in under the caps.

The pivot axis 2128 is provided by a pivot pin 2128 a, with threaded endholes, that locks the pivot bars 1116, 2118 together by bolt caps 2128b.

A blade drive shaft 2132 is splined to the rotary hub 2084 by a gear2136 engaged to a plurality of inner teeth 2140 on the inside of therotary hub 2084. Thus, the rotary hub 2084 is fixed for rotation withthe blade drive shaft 2132. The rotary drive shaft 2132 is journaled forrotation by base tapered roller bearings or thrust bearings 2144 anddistal tapered roller bearings or thrust bearings 2148 in order for therotary drive shaft 2132 to rotate with respect to the non-rotatingbearing hub 2120.

The blade drive shaft 2132 includes a lower counterweight mount 2133that permits a lower counterweight 2135 a to be fastened directly to theblade drive shaft 2132 using fasteners 2134 threaded into threaded holesprovided in the blade drive shaft 2132. Upper counterweight 2135 b forbalancing the involute-shaped blade 2082 is fastened to theinvolute-shaped blade 2082 using fasteners 2136.

When the rod 2110 is extended with respect to the actuator 2102, thepivot bars 2116, 2118 rotate counterclockwise (as viewed in FIG. 33)about the pivot axis 2128 and thrust the pivot axis 2121 in a directionaway from the cutting plane 2081 (down in FIG. 33). The bearing block2120 slides within the stationary hub 2130. The cutting blade 2082becomes offset by a small amount away from the cutting plane 2081.

When the actuator 2102 reverses the direction of the rod 2110, i.e., therod is retracted, the pivot bars 2116, 2118 rotate clockwise (as viewedin FIG. 33) about the pivot axis 2128 and the pivot bars 1116, 2118thrust the axis 2121 in a direction toward the cutting plane 2081. Thebearing block 2120 slides toward the cutting plane 2081 (up in FIG. 33),and the blade 2082 returns to being coplanar with the cutting plane2081.

A disc 2160 is fastened to the rotary hub 2084 with fasteners to rotatetherewith. As shown in FIGS. 33A and 34, a pair of disc brakes 2162,2164 are provided having calipers 2162 a, 2164 a, respectively. Thecalipers 2162 a, 2164 a are fixedly mounted to a mounting bar 2166 andfit over opposite sides of the disc 2160. The mounting bar 2166 ismounted to the stationary hub 2130 by fasteners 2168 and tubular spacers2170. Each disc brake 2162, 2164 includes movable, opposing frictionpads within the calipers 2162 a, 2164 a (not seen) that face oppositesides of the disc 2160 and are subject to air pressure within thecalipers 2162 a, 2164 a to squeeze the rotating disc 2160 and bring therotating disc 2160 and the rotary hub 2084, the drive shaft 2132 and theblade 2082 to a rapid and safe stop.

Food Article Feed Elevation Adjusting Apparatus

It is an advantage of the or present invention that the height of theconveyor 530 at the front and back ends thereof can be precisely setdepending on the product size to be cut. Accordingly, a food articlefeed elevation adjusting apparatus 3000 is provided and illustrated inFIGS. 37-39. The adjusting apparatus 3000 also includes the foldablesupport mechanism 174 previously described in the control thereof. Theadjusting apparatus 3000 includes a servomotor 3002 that is mountedwithin the enclosure 136 by a bracket 3006 that is secured to thetransverse strut 2067 c. The servomotor 3002 includes an output shaft3005 that drives an output pulley 3008. A toothed belt 3010 surroundsthe output pulley 3008 and two adjustment pulleys 3016, 3018. A tensionpulley 3020 maintains a constant tension on the belt 3010, and causesthe belt to wrap more teeth on each of the adjustment pulleys 3016,3018. Each adjustment pulley 3016, 3018 is connected to an input shaft3030 a, 3032 a of a fine movement screw adjusting cylinder or actuator3030, 3032, respectively. Thus, when the servomotor 3002 turns, thepulleys 3008, 3016, 3018, 3020 causes fine, precise movement of theoutput end 3030 b, 3032 b of the adjusting cylinders 3030, 3032. Theadjusting cylinders 3030, 3032 are set at an angle that is substantiallyperpendicular to the conveying surface of the conveyor 530, as shown inFIG. 27, and is substantially parallel to the cutting plane so that anyadjusted change in elevation by the adjusting cylinders 3030, 3032, witha corresponding change in elevation of the foldable support mechanism174 through a controlled movement of a servomotor 175, will not changethe angle of slice through food articles carried on the conveyor 530.

FIG. 40 shows the adjusting cylinders 3030, 3032 extending above the topwall 142 of the compartment. The cylinders 3030, 3032 are fixed withrespect to the top wall 142 but the output ends 3030 b, 3032 b can beraised and lowered by the servomotor 3002. The output ends 3030 b, 3032b are rotatably connected to the axle 192 by rings 3030 c, 3032 c thatare connected to the output end 3030 b, 3032 b, and encircle the axle192 but allow free rotation of the axle 192 within the rings 3030 c,3032 c.

FIG. 41 illustrates the axle 192 journaled by a bearing 3040 that ismounted to a slide block 3041 that is slidably carried by the side wall2062 b along a slot 3042 that is elongated along the same angle as theadjustment direction of the cylinders 3030, 3032. FIG. 42 shows the axle192 journaled by a bearing 3046 that is mounted to a slide block 3047that is slidably carried by the side wall 2062 a along a slot 3048 thatis elongated along the same angle as the adjustment direction of thecylinders 3030, 3032.

Also, for adjusting the elevation of the food article lift traypositioning apparatus, the pivot point 342 (FIG. 5) is also guided by abearing 3049 slidable within a slot 3050 in the side wall 2062 a (FIGS.42 and 50), the slots 3048 and 3050 being parallel in elongation.

Shear Support

A shear support 3060 is shown in FIGS. 43 and 44. The shear supportguides the food articles being sliced into the slicing plane wherein therotating slicing blade is arranged to come within a close tolerance ofthe shear support. The shear support illustrated has four rectangularopenings, although any number of openings or size and shape of openingsis encompassed by the invention. The present embodiment of the inventioncould accommodate four or less openings of variable shapes and sizes.The shear support 3060 fits down into a U-shaped frame 3068 that isfastened by upper bracket 3069 a and lower bracket 3069 b at each sideof the frame 3068 to the front plate 551 of the food article feed frame190 as shown in FIGS. 44A and 44B.

The upright members 3070 a, 3070 b of the frame 3068 have a plurality ofplain holes 3072 therethrough. Once the shear support 3060 is set downinto the frame 3068 a top cross bar 3076 (shown in FIG. 44, notinstalled in FIG. 43) is placed over the shear support between theupright members and bolted to the upright members using a pair of plainholes 3072 aligned across the frame 3068, depending on the height of theshear support 3060, that allow the top cross bar 3076 to fit down snuglyon the shear support 3060, and threaded holes 3078 provided into thecross bar, to complete a rectangular frame that surrounds the shearsupport on all four sides.

The shear support 3060 is preferably composed of non-metallic material.

Slice Receiving Apparatus

The slice delivery apparatus 130 comprises a slice accumulation conveyoror jump conveyor 3064.

The conveyor 3064 is shown in FIGS. 37 and 55. The conveyor 3064 iscarried on a transverse bar 3100 that is supported at opposite ends by araising apparatus 3106. The raising apparatus 3106 is shown in FIGS. 37,39 and 46. The raising apparatus 3106 comprises a servomotor 3110 thatdrives a gearbox 3111 that drives a sprocket 3114 that drives a belt (ormultiple belt elements) 3118. The belt is wrapped around a drivensprocket 3120 that is fixed on a shaft 3124. The shaft 3124 is journaledby bearings 3126, 3128 and penetrates through the side walls 138 a, 138b of the compartment 136 and into vertically arranged rack and pinionassemblies 3130, 3132 located outside the side skins across thecompartment 136. The shaft 3124 is fixed to a pinion 3136 within eachrack and pinion assembly, wherein the pinion is enmesh with teeth on avertical rack 3138. When the pinions 3136 are rotated by the shaft 3124the racks 3138 are raised or lowered an equal amount. The transverse bar3100 is supported at its opposite ends by one of the racks 3138.

In operation, as the blade cuts slices from the food articles 110, theslices accumulate on the conveyor 3064 in a straight stack or a shingleddrafts or other style presentation as is known. As the stack accumulatesthe raising mechanism 3106 lowers the conveyor so that each slice fallsan equal distance onto the stack. This helps form a neat stack.

A jump conveyor drive 3141 is shown in FIGS. 32, 33, 35, 36 and 44C. Aservomotor 3142 drives a gearbox 3144 that has an output shaft 3146 thatdrives a pulley 3148. The pulley 3148 drives a belt 3150 that rotates adriven pulley 3152. The driven pulley 3152 drives an axially alignedgear 3156 that drives a series of counter-rotating, enmeshed gears 3158,3160, 3162. The last gear 3162 drives an axially arranged gear 3166 thatis enmeshed with a counter-rotating gear 3168. The counter-rotating gear3168 is enmeshing with a final gear 3170 that drives a drive roller 3172of the conveyor 3064. This arrangement allows relative axial pivotingbetween the pulley/gear 3152, 3156 and gear pairs 3162, 3166 to adjustthe length of the drive 3141 by “folding” the drive to adapt to changingelevations of the jump conveyor 3064.

Sometime during slicing, food articles are exhausted (completely sliced)when the current accumulated stacks or drafts are only partiallycompleted on the jump conveyor 3064. According to one advantage of thecombination of the present invention, the partially completed stacks ordrafts are moved from the jump conveyor onto the weighing andclassifying conveyor 102 to be held in a standby position on theweighing and classifying conveyor 102. New food articles are loaded ontothe machine 100 and initial slicing begins. However, initial slicingproduces scrap pieces which must be removed from the salable product.The jump conveyor 3064 collects the scrap pieces and conveys the scrappieces in a reverse direction to dump the scrap pieces off the back endof the jump conveyor down onto the scrap accumulating conveyor 170 wherethe pieces are removed with any other scrap on the conveyor.Alternatively, the jump conveyor 3064 can be lowered a small amountusing the raising mechanism 3106, and the jump conveyor 3064 conveys thescrap pieces in a forward direction to dump the scrap pieces off thefront end of the jump conveyor down onto the scrap accumulating conveyor170 where the pieces are removed with any other scrap on the conveyor.

The jump conveyor can also be configured as described in U.S. Ser. No.11/449,574 filed Jun. 8, 2006 herein incorporated by reference.

Onboard Information Carrier System

As another feature of the invention, the onboard information carriersystem 135 can be incorporated into removable parts such as the slicingblade 2082 and the shear support 3060.

The onboard information carrier system preferably incorporates radiofrequency identification technology (RFID). The system can beincorporated into the exemplary embodiment of the present invention orother slicers as well, such as the FX180® slicer available from Formax,Inc. of Mokena, Ill., USA and slicers described in U.S. Pat. No.5,628,237 and European patent EP 0 713 753, herein incorporated byreference.

FIGS. 51 and 52 illustrate the system 135 comprises a data carrier 4001embedded into the blade 2082 for storing data from which data can beread and to which data can be written, a read/write head 4006 mounted tothe top wall 2061 of the housing 2060 that reads/writes data from/to thedata carrier 4001, a controller or interface 4010 located within thehousing 2060 or the base compartment 136 (shown schematically)communicating between the read/write head 4006 and machine control C.The data carriers are passive in that they do not have a battery. Whenthe data carrier is within the range of the read/write head, power istransferred inductively and the data transfer initiated.

The data carrier 4001 can have stored thereon the type and size ofblade, the time between re-sharpening, and the maximum speed allowable.This information will be communicated to machine control via theread/write head 4006 and the interface 4010. The machine control C canwrite onto the data carrier 4001, via the data interface 4010 and theread/write head 4006, how often this blade is used, how long the bladeis in use, the number of revolutions, the average speed, etc.

The system 135 can also comprise a data carrier 4031 embedded into theshear support for storing data from which data can be read and to whichdata can be written, a read/write head 4036 mounted to the far sideupstanding wall of the shear support frame that reads/writes datafrom/to the data carrier 4031, a controller or interface 4040 locatedwithin the base compartment 136 (shown schematically) and communicatingbetween the read/write head 4036 and machine control C. The data carrier4031 can have stored thereon the number of food articles to be slicedsimultaneously, size of each food article, gripper quantity and size tobe used, food article tray height required, and food article lift traytooling required.

This data will be used for informing the operator which gripper and foodarticle tray tooling should be used. The data carrier 4031 can also havestored thereon the amount of degrees the blade will need to slice theproduct (useful for timing the start/stop feed of the product), andinformation needed to automatically adjust the food article tray heightposition.

This information will be communicated to machine control via theread/write head 4036 and the interface 4040.

The machine control C can write onto the data carrier 4031, via the datainterface 4040 and the read/write head 4036, how often this shear bar isused, how long in use, number of pounds produced, etc.

Preferably, the data carrier 4001 is a BL IDENT model TW-R30-B128 andthe data carrier 4031 is a BL IDENT model TW-R20-B128 from Turck Inc. ofMinneapolis, Minn., US. The read write heads 4006, 4036 can be a modelTB-ML 8-H1147 from Turck Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn., US. The interface4010, 4040 can also be obtained from Turck Inc. of Minneapolis, Minn.,US to be compatible with the read/write head and the particular machinecontrol.

The system 135 can also be incorporated into the grippers and any otherpart where operation or maintenance information or instructions could beadvantageously located.

Laser Safety Guard System

The laser safety guard system 123 is illustrated in FIGS. 53 and 54. Thesystem comprises a near side laser sensor 5002 and a far side lasersensor 5004. Each sensor containing a laser emitter 5022 and a laserreceiver 5026. Each sensor is protected in a housing 5006 that includesa base 5008 and an openable lid 5010. As shown in FIG. 78, springs 5012are provided within the housing to urge the lid closed to the base 5008.Air cylinders 5014 are provided within the housing that, when suppliedwith pressurized air, opens the lid. Upon loss of electrical power, suchas occurs during routine spray washing of the equipment, the lids areclosed by force of the springs to seal the sensors within the housing toprotect the sensors from spray wash and dirt.

The housing 5006 for far side sensor 5004 is mounted to the sweepmechanism housing 194 and the housing 5006 for the near side sensor 5002is mounted to frame extension 548. As shown in FIG. 78, a conduit 5011extends from the housing base 5008 of the near side sensor 5002 to thesweep mechanism housing 194. The conduit 5011 carries electrical cablesand pressurized air to the sensor 5002.

With the lid open, a laser curtain 5020, as shown in FIG. 77, ofinfrared laser beams is projected down from a laser emitter 5022 about 2meters in depth and with a sweep of about 270°. A laser receiver 5026senses any interference in the curtain caused by an intrusion. The laserbeam emitter/receiver works on the principle of time of flightmeasurement. The emitter sends out very short pulses of light. When thelight is incident on an object, it is reflected back and received by thereceiver. The sensor calculates the time between sending the pulse andreceiving the reflection to calculate the distance of the object.

The interference is communicated from the sensor to machine control C.Upon sensing the intrusion, a corresponding operating mechanism of theapparatus is halted. For example, if the lift tray is being lifted andan operator puts his hand through the laser curtain, the machine controlhalts movement of the lift tray mechanism. The laser curtains protectpersonnel on both the far side and near side of the apparatus 100.

The sensors 5002, 5004 are preferably model S300 SAFETY LASER SCANNERavailable from Sick AG of Germany.

Weighing and Classifying Conveyor

The weighing and classifying conveyor or output conveyor 102 isillustrated if FIGS. 55-60B and 79-81. The conveyor 102 includes fourlanes for receiving up to four product groups in a row from the jumpconveyor 3064. Each lane includes an input or deceleration conveyor6002, a weighing scale conveyor 6006, and a classifying conveyor 6008.

The deceleration conveyor 6002 is pivotal about an axis 6012 under forcefrom a lever 6014 that is moved by a linear actuator, such as aservomotor screw drive 6016. The deceleration conveyor 6002 iscontrollably pivotal to match the changing elevation of the jumpconveyor 3064. Each conveyor 6002 comprises a belt 6020 that circulatesaround idle rollers 6022, 6024 and a drive roller 6028, and againstroller 6029. The drive roller 6028 is driven by a drive belt 6034 drivenby a servomotor 6036. All four lanes are driven together by a singlemotor.

Each weighing conveyor 6006 includes a removable carrying unit 6006 aand a drive unit 6006 b. The carrying unit 6006 a includes a belt 6050that circulates around two rollers 6054, 6058. The roller 6058 includesa driven gear 6060 that is enmesh with a drive gear 6064. The drive gear6064 is part of a drive unit 6006 b. The drive gear is mounted on axle6066 that is mounted for rotation to side frame members 6070, 6072 ofthe drive unit 6006 b. The axle 6066 is driven by a belt 6078 that iscirculated by a servomotor 6080. The side frame members 6070, 6072 areconnected to a transverse member 6082 that is fastened to a load cell6086.

The load cell can be as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/454,143 filed on Jun. 15, 2006, herein incorporated by reference. Thefour load cells 6086 are preferably viscous damped load cells forvibration resistance.

The removable carrying unit 6006 a is easily separated from the sideframe members 6070, 6072 of the drive unit 6006 b for cleaning asdemonstrated in FIGS. 56 and 57. Each side frame member 6070, 6072includes two slots 6090, 6092 that each receive a stub axle 6100 of theconveyor and the side frame members are captured between a cap 6102 ofthe stub axle and a base 6104 of the stub axle.

The four scale conveyors, one in each lane, are driven independently byfour motors 6080 as described.

The classifier conveyor 6008 includes four conveyors 6138 a, 6138 b,6138 c, 6138 d. Each conveyor, such as 6138 a, includes a conveyor belt6140 that is circulated around idle rollers 6142, 6144 and drive roller6146 and against roller 6148. The drive roller 6146 is driven inrotation by a belt 6150 driven by a servomotor 6152. All four conveyorbelts 6140 are driven by the common servomotor 6152. Each conveyor, suchas 6138 a, includes pivotal frame member 6156 that is pivotal about anaxis 6160. A linear actuator, such as a pneumatic cylinder 6164 isactuatable to pivot up or down the pivotal frame member 6156. Thepivotal frame member carries the roller 6142 so pivoting of the framemember 6156 pivots the conveyor belt 6140 as well. Each conveyor 6138 a,6138 b, 6138 c, 6138 d is individually pivotable by correspondingpneumatic cylinders 6164.

The conveyors 6138 a, 6138 b, 6138 c, 6138 c are pivotal from a downtilted angle position “A” corresponding to delivering off weight productto an off-weight conveyor (not shown), to a horizontal position “B”which is for on weight, acceptable product, and to a cleanup position“C”. The cleanup position “C” is important in order to avoidinterference with a downstream conveyor (not shown) when the weighingand classifying conveyor 102 is translated out to the cleanup positionof FIG. 59.

The weighing and classifying conveyor 102 is supported on a pair ofrails 6180, 6182 that are connected to be bottom wall 140 of the basesection 104 of the apparatus 100. The conveyor 102 is fastened to fourslide bearings 6186 that slide on the rails 6180, 6182. A linearactuator or pneumatic cylinder 6190 is fastened to the conveyor housingand includes a rod 6192 that extends rearward through the housing and isfastened to a stop 6196 provided on the rails between the conveyor 102and the apparatus 100. When the rod 6192 is forced by air pressuredelivered into the cylinder to extend, the conveyor 102 slides away fromthe apparatus 100 to a clean up position as shown in FIG. 59. While apneumatic cylinder is shown, any other means to move the conveyor awayfrom the apparatus, including a motor, a screw drive, or human force,could be used in place of the pneumatic cylinder.

FIGS. 79-82 illustrates a position adjustment feature of the weighingand classifying conveyor 102. Each of the belts 6020 of the fourdeceleration conveyors 6002 comprises a plurality of belts elements 6206that encircled the rollers 6022, 6024, and drive roller 6028. Therollers 6022 are each carried on a slidable carriage 6210. The slidablecarriages 6210 are slidable along a support tube 6216. Each carriage6210 has a threaded hole 6222 that receives a single threaded adjustmentrod 6230 that is fixed to a frame of the conveyor but allowed to rotate.Each carriage 6210 has a dedicated single adjustment rod 6230 for momentall that dedicated carriage 6210. The rod 6230 allows fine positioningof the ends of the four deceleration conveyors 6002. This isparticularly advantageous to ensure that slices delivered from thedeceleration conveyors 6002 are perfectly centered when passing acrossthe weighing conveyors 6006 for accurate weighing. Depending onconditions, the product slice from the food articles may not landprecisely on the jump conveyor 3064 so that this adjustment isadvantageous. Although a manual adjustment is described, it is readilyunderstood that an automatic adjustment such as with a linear actuator,servomotor or servo screw drive could be used as well.

The conveyor 6002 comprises a belt 6020 that circulates around idlerollers 6022, 6024 and a drive roller 6028, and against roller 6029. Thedrive roller 6028 is driven by a drive belt 6034 driven by a servomotor6036. All four lanes are driven together by a single motor.

Adjustable Conduit Connections

Because various compartments within the combination 100/102 must becompatible with the moving with respect to other compartments,accommodations must be made for differential movement and rotation withregard to conduits for signal and power cables and pneumatic tubing. Aconduit 8000 shown in FIG. 5 is provided with a telescopic slide joint8002 and upper rotary joint 8004 and a lower rotary joint 8006 toaccommodate the relative pivoting motion between the food article feeddrive compartment 196 and the base compartment 136. A conduit 8010between the weighing and classifying conveyor 102 and the basecompartment 136 requires a sliding joint 8012 wherein some excessconduit length is provided within the weighing and classifying conveyor102.

Servomotors

The servomotors used within the combination apparatus 100/102 are aircooled except for the servomotor 2098 which is preferably water cooled.All the servomotors and other actuators are precisely controlled formovement and position by the machine control, so that conveyormovements, lift tray movements, sweep movements, elevation adjustingmovements, food article end removal apparatus movements, food articlefeed movements, blade movements, clean up position movements, etc. areall coordinated for optimal machine performance.

1. A food article slicing machine, comprising: a slicing stationcomprising a knife blade and a knife blade drive driving the blade alonga cutting path; a food article feed apparatus supporting two or morefood articles for movement along corresponding food article pathsintersecting the cutting path; a food article loading apparatus having,a lift tray pivotally mounted at a lower end with respect to the foodarticle feed apparatus and having a support surface for receiving foodarticles to be loaded out of the lift tray and onto the food articlefeed apparatus; at least one divider mounted for movement with the lifttray and configured to separate said loaded food articles on said lifttray; and, a lifting actuator operatively connected to the lift tray andconfigured to pivot said lift tray between a lowered position for foodarticles to be loaded onto said lift tray and a raised position for foodarticles to be transferred to said food article feed apparatus.
 2. Thefood article slicing machine of claim 1, wherein the lift tray supportsurface comprises a plurality of support plates supporting said foodarticles; and at least one divider comprises a plurality of dividerspositioned between said support plates.
 3. The food article slicingmachine of claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of support plates hasa lowered position and an elevated position; each said support plate,when the support plate is in the elevated position, is positioned levelwith the top of said dividers so that said food articles may be movedlaterally from one support plate to the next without interference bysaid dividers.
 4. The food article slicing machine of claim 2,comprising one or more sensors positioned to detect a presence of one ormore of the food articles on one or more said support plates.
 5. Thefood article slicing machine of claim 4, comprising a controller thatreceives signals from said one or more sensors; said controller signalsthe movement of said support plates between an elevated position and alowered position causing said food articles to be received onto thedesired support plate upon lateral loading of said food articles.
 6. Thefood article slicing machine of claim 1, comprising a food articletransfer apparatus for moving said food articles from the lift tray ontosaid food article feed apparatus with one synchronous movementmaintaining each said food article in a same separated position relativeto other food article positions.
 7. The food article slicing machine ofclaim 1, comprising a food article transfer apparatus having a multilanesweep; said multilane sweep has two side plates and one or moreintermediate spacers for defining a relative spacing of said foodarticles to be moved onto said food article feed apparatus.
 8. A foodarticle slicing machine, comprising: a slicing station comprising aknife blade and a knife blade drive driving the blade along a cuttingpath; a food article feed apparatus supporting two or more food articlesfor movement along corresponding food article paths intersecting thecutting path; a food article loading apparatus having, a lift trayadjacent the food article feed apparatus and having a support surfacefor receiving food articles to be loaded out of the lift tray and ontothe food article feed apparatus; at least one divider mounted formovement with the lift tray and configured to separate said loaded foodarticles on said lift tray; a lifting actuator operatively connected tothe lift tray and configured to move said lift tray between a loweredposition for food articles to be loaded onto said lift tray and a raisedposition for food articles to be transferred to said food article feedapparatus; and a food article transfer apparatus having a multilanesweep; said multilane sweep has a first position and a second position;said first position being above said lift tray; said second positionbeing above said food article feed apparatus.
 9. The food articleslicing machine of claim 8, wherein the food article transfer apparatuscomprises a transfer motor for moving said multilane sweep between saidfirst position and said second position.
 10. The food article slicingmachine of claim 8 wherein said multilane sweep has a raised positionand a lowered position.
 11. The food article slicing machine of claim10, wherein the food article transfer apparatus comprises a liftingmotor for moving said multilane sweep between said raised and saidlowered position.
 12. A food article slicing machine, comprising: aslicing station comprising a knife blade and a knife blade drive drivingthe blade along a cutting path; a food article feed apparatus supportingtwo or more food articles for movement along corresponding food articlepaths intersecting the cutting path; a food article loading apparatushaving, a lift tray adjacent the food article feed apparatus and havinga support surface for receiving food articles to be loaded out of thelift tray and onto the food article feed apparatus; at least one dividermounted for movement with the lift tray and configured to separate saidloaded food articles on said lift tray; a lifting actuator operativelyconnected to the lift tray and configured to move said lift tray betweena lowered position for food articles to be loaded onto said lift trayand a raised position for food articles to be transferred to said foodarticle feed apparatus; and a food article transfer apparatus having amultilane sweep; said multilane sweep has a raised position and alowered position.
 13. The food article slicing machine of claim 12,wherein the food article transfer apparatus comprises a lifting motorfor moving said multilane sweep between said raised and said loweredposition.
 14. A food article icing machine, comprising: a slicingstation comprising a knife blade and a knife blade drive driving theblade along a cutting path; a food article feed apparatus supporting twoor more food articles for movement along corresponding food articlepaths intersecting the cutting path; a lift tray pivotally mounted at alow end with respect to the food article feed apparatus, the lift traycomprising a plurality of support plates for receiving said two or morefood articles to be loaded out of the lift tray and onto the foodarticle feed apparatus, and one or more dividers positioned between saidsupport plates for defining a plurality of food article lanes; and, alifting mechanism operatively connected to the lift tray and configuredto move said lift tray between a lowered position for food articles tobe loaded onto said lift tray and a raised position for food articles tobe transferred to said food article feed apparatus.
 15. The food articleslicing machine of claim 14, wherein said dividers are removable fromsaid lift tray.
 16. The food article slicing machine of claim 14,wherein said lift tray comprises at least four support plates.
 17. Thefood article slicing machine of claim 14, further comprising: aplurality of support plate lift mechanisms corresponding to theplurality of support plates; each said lift mechanism for independentlymoving a corresponding one of said support plates between a loweredposition and an elevated position; each said support plate, when in theelevated position, is positioned level with the top of said dividers sothat said one or more food articles may be moved laterally from onesupport plate to the next without interference by said dividers.
 18. Thefood article slicing machine of claim 14, comprising one or more foodarticle sensors, each support plate comprises a food article sensoropening and each one or more food article sensors is positioned todetect the presence of a food article over the corresponding foodarticle sensor opening.
 19. The food article slicing machine of claim18, comprising a machine control that receives signals from said one ormore sensors; said machine control for signaling the movement of saidsupport plates between an elevated position and a lowered position andcausing said one or more food articles to be received onto the desiredsupport plate upon lateral loading of said one or more food articles onsaid lift tray.
 20. A food article slicing machine, comprising: aslicing station comprising a knife blade and a knife blade drive drivingthe blade along a cutting path; a food article feed apparatus supportingtwo or more food articles for movement along corresponding food articlepaths intersecting the cutting path; a food article loading apparatushaving, a lift tray having a support surface for receiving food articlesto be loaded onto the food article feed apparatus; the lift tray supportsurface comprises a plurality of support plates supporting said foodarticles; and at least one divider positioned between said supportplates and configured to maintain separation of said loaded foodarticles on said lift tray; each of said plurality of support plates hasa lowered position and an elevated position; each said support plate,when the support plate is in the elevated position, is positioned levelwith the top of said at least one divider so that said food articles maybe moved laterally from one support plate to the next withoutinterference by said at least one divider; a lifting actuatoroperatively connected to the lift tray and configured to move said lifttray between a lowered position for food articles to be loaded onto saidlift tray and a raised position for food articles to be transferred tosaid food article feed apparatus.
 21. The food article slicing machineof claim 20, wherein the at least one divider comprises a plurality ofdividers, each divider positioned between adjacent support plates.